


Even the Seasons Change

by FishingforCrows



Series: Our New Life on Our Side [5]
Category: Good Omens (TV)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Ineffable Husbands (Good Omens), M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-29
Updated: 2019-07-16
Packaged: 2020-05-30 20:50:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19411150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FishingforCrows/pseuds/FishingforCrows
Summary: Two years after the Almostpocalypse Adam suddenly shows up on Aziraphale's door, having run away from home. He is frustrated because his father has decided to move the family out of Tadfield. Aziraphale and Crowley attempt to teach him about the virtues of change.





	1. Devil on Your Doorstep

**Author's Note:**

> I really just wanted to write a little bit of domestic fluff about these two being Dads
> 
> The perspective switches between Aziraphale and Crowley each chapter.

Between late June and early August tends to be the hottest time of the year in the northern Hemisphere. While England is very far from the equator and by relative terms does not get very hot, the English as a group are not accustomed to temperatures above 25 degrees. This particular afternoon in August is was 32. The residence of London sought to get out of the heat in any way they could. 

Inside A.Z. Fell & Co. it was always the perfect temperature, despite there being no visible sign of an AC unit or even any fans. This meant that lots of people had wandered in off the street seeking refuge. The small space was near packed with sweaty, red faces. Aziraphale was hurrying around to help customers when the bell on the door rang again. He was so distracted by the chaos that he didn’t even look up until he heard his name called out in a familiar voice.

“Aziraphale!”

The bookseller, glanced up, then stopped in his tracks, blinking in surprise at who he saw.

“Adam?” He asked in an inquisitive voice. He of course knew the boy with the mop of golden hair standing in his door was indeed Adam, but instead was asking ‘Adam?’ in the way people ask someone’s name when they really mean ‘What on earth are you doing here?’.

A high-pitched bark came from behind Adam’s legs, and Dog stuck his black and white snout out to say hello. “And Dog!” The angel laughed.

“I’ve come to visit you!” Adam chirped happily, which was when Aziraphale noticed the duffle bag in his hand.

“I can see that, my dear boy, but I must ask why you’ve come on such short notice?” He asked in confusion, looking around. “Where are your parents?”

“They’re back in Tadfield,” The former-antichrist answered simply with a shrug of his shoulders.

“Then how did you get here?”

“I took the bus,”

Aziraphale was about to remind him that there wasn’t a bus from Tadfield to London, but he knew Adam already knew that. He shook his head, still trying to take in all this information. “Well, as you can see, today is very busy for me. So perhaps you could come back another day for a visit,”

“Or I could just wait in the back until you close,” Adam replied, already walking past Aziraphale and navigating through the customers, Dog close behind him.

“Wait, what?” Aziraphale asked, flustered, trying to follow him. “No Adam- “

“It’s no trouble! You won’t even know I’m here!” Adam called back, his size allowing him to move through the shop more quickly. Aziraphale was trying his best to catch up with him but he had already slipped into the backroom and the angel was now being approached by customers in need of help. It would have to be dealt with later.

Between all the hubbub in the shop, he eventually did find the time to make a phone call.

“Hi, this is Anthony Crowley, you know what to do, do it with style. -Beep-,”

“Oh, pick up the phone you old serpent! I know you’re home!” Aziraphale huffed in annoyance. He heard a click on the line followed by Crowley’s voice.

“What’s up?” He greeted his angel lazily. It took all of Aziraphale’s grace not to roll his eyes at that tone.

“Adam came to visit today,” He began in an urgent tone.

“Well that’s nice,”

It may very well have been nice, under normal circumstances. Adam had actually come to visit Aziraphale, and Crowley as well, before on more than one occasion. It had been two years since the world had almost ended had it not been for Aziraphale, Crowley, and Adam, but the angel and the demon had made a point of keeping up with the ex-adversary-destroyer-of-kings-angel-of-the-bottomless-pit-prince-of-this-world-and-lord-of-darkness.

They had befriended the Young family at a dinner party in Tadfield, hosted by Anathema. Aziraphale had pretended to know things about fishing in order to impress Arthur Young, Adam’s father. Meanwhile, Crowley had wowed Deidre, Adam’s mother, with his extensive knowledge of gardening. This bit of cleverness earned them an invite to dinner at the Young’s house. Which subsequently led to invites to other events such as barbecues, cocktail parties, and even a holiday party. A holiday party at which, they presented Adam with a set of four walkie-talkies; a gift he appreciated greatly. They eventually instilled themselves as close family friends. Which better allowed them to fulfill their duty as self-appointed “godfathers”. These duties included ensuring that Adam was using his powers wisely, giving him advice, teaching him about life as a supernatural being, and sometimes taking him out for ice cream or to football games.

“Except it’s not nice! He showed up with a duffle bag, said he took the bus, and then ran off into my back room without explaining,” Aziraphale explained in exasperation, wishing Crowley would pick up on the fact he was being serious. “I think he’s run away from home but my shop is full of customers. I close early on Sundays so I should be done in about an hour, could you get over here? If he has run away it could be something serious,” He pleaded with him.

“Alright, alright, I understand. I’ll be over in a bit,” Crowley said, reluctantly. “It’s probably nothing though. He’s what? Thirteen now? Teenagers are always over dramatic,” He told Aziraphale.

“I hope you’re right,” Aziraphale sighed in return.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi so uuuuuh.... this fic originally took place in July but then I wrote a sequel and it taking place in July resulted in some slight continuity errors based on when children go back to school. So I made it in August so that the next fic could theoretically be after school starts in late August/ early September. Any who, no new readers will notice but I felt the need to explain XD


	2. Giving Attitude to an Angel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aziraphale and Crowley get to the bottom of why Adam has run away from home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Crowley's POV

Crowley pulled up outside the shop just as Aziraphale was turning the sign in the window to “Closed”. The demon walked in and the both of them headed straight to the back of the shop together. Adam was sitting in an over-stuffed armchair, his legs dangling over one of the arms. He was absorbed in a hand-held video game, something involving an elf trying to find a princess. Dog was lying underneath the chair, his head resting on his paws. 

“Hey Adam,” The demon said with a smile as he pushed through the door. Aziraphale shuffled in behind him with a worried expression on his face. 

“Crowley!” Adam jumped to his feet, with an excited grin, putting his game aside. He ran over and gave Crowley a hug. Dog greeted them with a bark. 

“So, what brings you to London?” Crowley asked coolly after pulling away. 

“Just wanted to come for a visit,” He answered quickly, but his gaze shifted off to the side. 

Crowley raised a single eyebrow at him, making the boy shift nervously back and forth on his feet. “And why didn’t your parents call and let Aziraphale know you were coming?” He asked, looming over him to try and intimidate him into being honest. It worked.

“… They didn’t… plan on me being here,” Adam answered sheepishly, shoving his hands in his pockets and looking down. 

“Your parents don’t know you’re here?” Aziraphale said with a panicked gasp.

“You haven’t called his parents yet?!” Crowley hissed, whipping around to look at the angel in disbelief.

“I called you! I didn’t think to call his parents!” Aziraphale said, throwing his hands up in dismay.

“Well go call them now! Before we get accused of kidnapping!” Crowley replied in annoyance, shooing the angel out of the room. He then turned back to Adam, rubbing one of his temples agitatedly. “So, just out the blue you decided to come pay Aziraphale a visit without telling your parents? Just pop over to London for a trip? No ulterior motive?” He asked sarcastically. Adam crossed his arms over his chest, grimacing and refusing to look Crowley in the eye. “Adam,” He growled. “You have thirty seconds to start talking before I take you to the car and drive you home,”

“Your car is out of gas,” Adam replied in smug, teenaged fashion, a defiant smirk quirking at the edge of his lips. 

Crowley narrowed his eyes and snapped his fingers. “Now I’ve got a full tank. Don’t bother trying to magic your way out of this because I’ve got powers too, remember?” Adam looked frustrated and Crowley lowered his glasses just a bit to give him a menacing look. 

“Alright!” Adam exclaimed, giving in. He flopped back down into the armchair he had been sitting in and Dog jumped into his lap to comfort him. “I don’t want to move!” He said angerly. 

Crowley cocked his head to the side. “What?”

“My dad is getting some stupid new job at some dumb new company and now we have to move to another town! I’m going to have to leave all my friends!”

“But… didn’t you leave all your friends anyway by running away to London?”

“I’m not going to live here forever!” Adam snapped back at him. “I just need to stay here for a month or two until my parents move and then Brian said I could come live in his basement after that,”

Crowley took a deep breath in. That was possibly one of the stupidest things he’d ever heard, but he guessed that’s just how teenagers are. “Why didn’t you just, make a better paying job for your dad in Tadfield?” He asked. 

“Don’t encourage him to use his powers frivolously like that!” Aziraphale scolded him as he reentered the room. “Your parents are glad you’re safe and said you can spend the night here but they’ll pick you up tomorrow,” He said to Adam, giving him a disapproving look. “They were worried sick, they had the police out looking for you!”

“I don’t care!” Adam yelled at them, causing Aziraphale to recoil in surprise. “I knew you’d be like this! I should have just used my powers like Crowley said! But you two are always lecturing me about the butterfly effect and how I shouldn’t change major things because they can make other things happen and then it might all spin out of control. So, I thought if I used my powers you two would just find out and come undo it all!” He ranted at them. “I thought you’d prefer if I just worked it out with no magic! But nothing I do makes anyone happy!” 

“Do not talk to Aziraphale like that!” Crowley began to shout, but he stopped in his tracks when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked at Aziraphale who just shook his head. 

“It’s fine,” He said gently before going to crouch down by the chair Adam was sitting in, getting on his eye-level. “Adam, I appreciate you taking our advice not to use your powers without thinking,” He told him in a calm voice. Adam gave a little nod at that, seemingly grateful for the acknowledgement. “But you like living with humans, correct? You like being human?” The angel asked. 

“Well… yeah…” Adam said, with a frown.   
“Part of human life is change. Angels and demons,” He said gesturing at himself and Crowley “We are slow to change, physically we rarely change at all. But humans change all the time. They grow and move around and create things, and it’s wonderful. It one of the best parts of Earth, always changing, always something new to discover. So, if you want to be human, you might have to accept that things can’t always stay the same,” 

Crowley was impressed with how well the angel handled that. Aziraphale might make a good father if he were human, the demon thought, smiling a bit. He certainly made a good godfather as an angel. 

Adam’s frown deepened, his lip quivered slightly and he abruptly looked away. But Aziraphale had seen the glimmer of tears in his eyes just before he had. He reached out and put a hand on his back. “We can talk about it more tomorrow,” The angel reassured him. “For now, you must be hungry, let’s get you some dinner,”


	3. Devils Dance with Demons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Crowley and Adam have had a frosty start to Adam's stay in London. Aziraphale hopes that spending the day together will set them off on a better path.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aziraphales POV 
> 
> I promise I will go back to writing smut when I get all these domestic feelings out of my heart

“Please, Deidre, I think if you just let him stay here for a week or so, it would really do him some good,” Aziraphale pleaded with Mrs. Young on the phone, early the next morning. “It will give him some time to calm down and wrap his head around the whole thing,”

“But don’t you think if he comes home and sees us halfway through packing, that he’ll be upset?” She fretted “Shouldn’t he be here, helping with the process so he can ease into it and get ready to say goodbye?” She had a good point but Aziraphale was convinced that he and Crowley could bring Adam around.

“I’m just worried that if we send him back he might do something more drastic,” He pointed out. “You know how stubborn he can be,”

“More drastic? How do you mean?” She asked, deep concern in her voice.

“Well at least if he’s here with us, he’s with someone you know,” He reasoned. “If he runs away again he might try to go where you can’t find him. At least here he’s being taken care of and has a roof over his head instead of sleeping in some park,”

“That’s true,” She sighed heavily. “Alright, he can stay for a week,” She relented. “But please have him call me when he wakes up?”

“Of course,” Aziraphale replied with a relieved smile.

After he hung up he went to the kitchenette in the living space above the shop and started to fix breakfast for Adam. His cooking had improved notably since he had almost burned down Crowley’s kitchen, but he still wasn’t a very advanced cook. However, eggs and toast were well within his skill set.

The smell of food wafting down the stairs was apparently enough to wake the sleeping beast as he wandered into the kitchenette with bleary eyes and messy hair. He gave a big yawn and sat down at the table. “G’morning,” He mumbled.

“Good morning,” Aziraphale greeted him as he set his plate down on the table. “I have some good news! Your mother said you can stay here for a while,” He told him cheerfully.

“Did she say that they’ll move without me while I’m here?” Adam asked dryly in reply. “Because that was the whole point of me staying here,”

The angel took a deep breath and reminded himself that patience was a virtue. “She said they have to work things out,” He replied vaguely, not lying but also not giving Adam any reason to leave this arrangement. “And she also said to call her the second you finish breakfast, so I had better see you on the phone before I go downstairs for work young man,” He added with conviction, making sure to meet Adam’s eye so he knew he was serious.

“She won’t be able to change my mind,” The boy grumbled as he handed the crust of his toast underneath the table to Dog.

“Listen to him, he has a halo for a reason,” Crowley chimed in as he sauntered in from the bedroom. “Is there any tea, angel?” He asked and Aziraphale went to put some on.

“What are you doing here?” Adam asked, shooting Crowley a nasty look. He apparently had not forgiven the demon for his stern words from yesterday.

Crowley sent an equally nasty look right back across the table. “Because I’m an adult and I can stay at whosever house I want without having my mummy call the police,” He snarked at him in a nasal, mocking voice.

“Stop that!” Aziraphale scolded Crowley, swatting him with a rag on his back. “As I was just telling Adam, he’s going to be staying here, so you two should start getting along now or it’s going to be a long and miserable stay,” He warned them both. “Speaking of, what do you plan on doing today Adam?”

Adam shrugged his shoulders noncommittally. “Dunno, play games on my switch?”

“You plan on staring at that little gadget all day?” Aziraphale asked, aghast at the idea.

“Then I’ll go out,” Adam replied in annoyance.

“Go out?” Aziraphale squawked. “I am not going to let you wander around London all day on your own, your mother would kill me!” Crowley was snickering across the table as the angel spoke. “I’ll give you a choice, you can either help me around the shop or Crowley can take you out to wherever he’s going,” The demon’s snickering stopped abruptly at that.

“Excuse me?” Crowley protested, bristling with his objection to the idea. 

“Oh, like you’ve got anything better to do,” Aziraphale hushed him, ignoring his glares. “That way you can see the city but you won’t be alone,” He said, clasping his hands together and smiling at Adam, trying to sell the idea.

A smug smile had appeared on the boy’s face when he saw how Crowley had reacted. “I think I’d like that, since you know, I wouldn’t want my mummy calling the police again,” He quipped at the demon.

It was times like this when Aziraphale was reminded of the boy’s origin. He hoped spending some quality time together would force them to get along. If anything, they could bond over the fact that they both gave their local principality an immense amount of stress with their various antics.

All joking aside, whether or not the demon and the devil were getting along was on Aziraphale’s mind all day. He wondered if he should have even given the boy a choice, or instead just asked him to help around the shop. At least then he wouldn’t have to worry about the two of them getting into some sort of fight and resorting to breathing fire at each other. It worried him all day to the point he was not very helpful to most of the customers asking him questions, making them repeat themselves several times as he got distracted.

After he closed the shop, he went and got takeaway for them to eat for dinner, and headed over to Crowley’s flat. As he exited the elevator and entered the flat he was greeted by something odd; singing. Now, hearing loud rock and roll music blasting through Crowley’s home was certainly not unusual, but what was different this time was a voice could be heard over it, singing along.

“DON’T STOP ME NOOOW!” Adam was belting at the top of his lungs. Aziraphale peeked around the corner and had to cover his mouth to keep from laughing giddily at what he saw.

“I’M HAVING SUCH A GOOD TIME, I’M HAVING A BALL!” Crowley jumped in on the next line. The demon was _singing_ with Adam. More specifically he was singing into his plant mister, holding it like a microphone and dancing around wildly.

“DON’T STOP ME NOOOOOW!” Adam, meanwhile had a broom also functioning as a microphone, and was balancing on the back of the couch like it was a stage.

“IF YOU WANNA HAVE A GOOD TIME, JUST GIVE ME A CAAALLL!” With that line the demon started to do a spin, only to see Aziraphale standing there. The surprise caused him to slip and very nearly land face-first on to the floor. Luckily, he twisted landed on his side instead. “Angel!” He cleared his throat, hurrying to his feet and snapping his fingers to turn down the music. He brushed himself off, trying to step back into his usual, cocky, cool manner. “You’re back,”

Aziraphale was holding back a happy giggle. He had seen the demon dance before, but never in quite such a silly, childish way. And he had certainly never heard his love sing like that. He found it absolutely adorable and charming. “Looks like you two had a good day,” He said, feeling, perhaps unduly, proud of himself that things had gone so well. “I brought food!” He held up the bag and Adam jumped down from the couch to come take it from him.

“I’m starving!” He hurried to the kitchen with the bag, not waiting for either of his guardians to follow.

“So, did you talk to him about the moving situation at all?” Aziraphale asked Crowley hopefully as they followed.

“Oh,” Crowley said, eyebrows raised in realization when Aziraphale said that. “Yeeaah…That would have been a good idea to do while I was with him all day, wouldn’t it?” He said with an awkward laugh and an apologetic smile. Aziraphale sighed and shook his head, managing to chuckle good naturedly. He should have known that would be asking too much. His demon was clever, except when he was busying making a fool of himself.


	4. Adversary in the Arcade

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Crowley is determined to finally talk to Adam about his worries concerning moving.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this on the plane to Canada and posted it using a weed dispensary WiFi lmao 
> 
> Crowley’s POV

Crowley and Adam’s first day out together hadn’t started off on the best foot. After their sharp comments over breakfast they spent ten painfully long minutes of frosty silence in the Bentley before Adam bothered to attempt a conversation. 

“So… what do you do all day?” He asked, looking expectantly at the demon. 

“Whatever I want,” Crowley replied with a shrug. Internally he felt slightly self-conscious, feeling like he was performing in front of an audience. An audience, that would certainly complain to Aziraphale and make him look bad if he didn’t manage to entertain him. Slightly self-conscious, and extremely resentful. He decided to put on some music to fill the awkward spaces between conversations. He hit play and of course the tape already in the player was Queen. The pounding beat of We Will Rock You came on and filled the car. Adam looked at the speaker with curiosity. A moment after the vocals started, he turned to Crowley. 

“What is this?”

“Wh-hu-ar-” Crowley sputtered, failing to produce words for a moment at the shock of that question. “How do you not know this song?” He knew Adam was just a kid but surely, everyone knew this song. He started off explaining who queen was, then began to introduce him to other classic rock bands, throwing in some punk and alternative as well to make sure he was well-rounded. Adam listened eagerly, soaking up the knowledge of these bands none of his friends back home had ever talked about. They drove around London seemingly without a destination in mind since the Demon had found a more important task. 

The history lesson resulted in Crowley taking Adam to a record store, where he purchased him not only his own record player but a sizeable start to a vinyl collection of his own. He of course knew that Adam had a phone that could play and store as much music as he wanted. But, as he explained to the boy, being pretentious about vinyl was one of the most satisfying, if albeit harmless, forms of evil there was. Between teaching him about and buying him his own music collection, Crowley had forgotten why Adam was in London in the first place. So, discussing his problems with his family moving had not come up. 

Two days later when Crowley got the chance to spend the day with him again, he resolved himself to make sure he had that conversation. This was mostly motivated by Aziraphale insisting they had to convince that moving was a good thing. In his personal opinion, he thought either Adam would get over it eventually or would use his powers to convince his dad to stay in Tadfield. They had, however agreed that now that the apocalypse had been averted, Adam should use his powers very sparingly. For one, altering reality significantly could end up in a situation with Adam losing control and hurting a lot of people. Equally likely, if the forces of Heaven and Hell realized he still had powers they might try to use him for their own gain, or worse, eliminate him. 

“Sooo…” Crowley said after Adam had gotten in the Bentley once again and they started driving. This time Dog came with him and was sitting in the back seat, tail wagging at the excitement of being in a car. “Do you know where you’re moving to?”

Adam, who had had a bright smile on his face when he got in the car, immediately flattened his expression at that. He sat silently, refusing to even look at the demon. 

“Oh come on, don’t give me the silent treatment. I invented the silent treatment,” He hadn’t, but that wasn’t the point. “I’m on your side,”

“Can we go there?” Adam asked suddenly, still ignoring Crowley. He was pointing at an arcade they were passing on the other side of the street. The demon was about to admonish him for trying to distract from the conversation, but thought maybe if he gave Adam something he wanted, he might be more inclined to talk. He whipped the car around in a sharp U-turn to get on the other side of the street. A flurry of honking horns and tire screeches erupted as he did, but he didn’t pay them any attention as he parked the car in front of the arcade. 

Adam was clutching his chest in shock at the severity of the turn but also partially seemed stunned Crowley has actually stopped. “Well come on then,” The demon said expectantly as he got out of the car, Adam following suit shortly after. They walked in and the boy immediately gravitated towards a shooter game. It was a two player game, the demon slipped a few coins in. “Think again, I’m the red one,” Crowley said before Adam could lay his hand on the plastic pistol, he didn’t argue, simply grabbing the blue one instead. They started to shoot at the growling zombies on the screen, Crowley only half paying attention as he glanced over at Adam. “You know, I know what you’re going through. If you bothered to talk to me I might be able to help,” he said casually, turning his eyes to the flashing screen. 

“What do you know about what I’m going through?” Adam grumbled resentfully, trapped from ignoring him or walking away by the game. 

Crowley gawked at that statement. “Oh I don’t know,” He said in a sarcastic and resentful tone. “Not like I was ever forced to leave a place I really liked, ripped away from my old life and friends. No, I  wanted to leave literal paradise for a damp pit filled with sulphur,” Adam shrunk at that, apparently realizing his mistake. 

“You had friends in heaven?” He asked a moment later, intrigued.

“Course I did,” They finished the game, Crowley had barely scored any points but both sides spat out long chains of tickets. Adam grinned at the sight of them, grabbing them and slinging them over his shoulders like gold necklaces piled on renaissance nobility. “We spent all day crafting the stars and planets together, I was bound to grow close to some of them,” Crowley said with a shrug of his shoulders, brushing the statement off as if the thought didn’t cause a dull pain in his chest. He sauntered over to a ski-ball game with Adam in toe. 

“Everyone keeps telling me I’ll make new friends after I move,” Adam said, anger in his voice at the idea. He threw the first ball, harder than he should of, not making into any of the scored cups. “Did you?”

“In hell?” Crowley snorted indignantly at that. “No. Not really. We hung out, even had fun at first. But we had different opinions on some important things,” He thought about how the other demons talked about humans, describing them as stupid animals to be toyed with and lead astray. Crowley loved them; they were clever, inventive, creative, they embodied everything he loved about earth. An unpopular opinion for a demon. Just because he didn’t agree with God on how she ran things, leaving everyone in the dark, didn’t mean he couldn’t appreciate some of her creations. 

“That’s what I’m worried about,” Adam sighed sadly, pulling Crowley from his thoughts. “I have such good friends in Tadfield, what if all the people in my new town are different?”

“Then you make the best of what you have, I did,” The demon reassured him. “I came up with the idea to tempt Eve, got myself permanently assigned to earth, met Aziraphale,” He couldn’t help but smile a bit at the last part. “Sometimes decisions get made for us, things don’t go as planned,” He told him seriously. The boy wouldn’t make eye contact, staring instead down at a stream of tickets even longer than the last. “We have to make the best of things. Find ways to keep life worth living,” He reached out and gave Adam a pat on the back as they turned to walk to a different game. “Alright, that’s enough philosophical advice for today”

They enjoyed the rest of their afternoon, moods perking up as they actually began playing the games competitively. They played almost every game in the arcade with fierce rivalry. Adam even talked Crowley into a tense round of DDR, which the boy won, wounding his guardian’s pride even if he wouldn’t admit it. 

By the time they reached the prize counter, they were each wearing such a thick garland of tickets that they rustled as they walked. Children throughout the arcade watched them with jealous eyes. One girl even sniffled, looking down at the measly ten tickets she clutched in her hand. She caught Adam’s eye and Crowley saw something spark there. The boy pushed his massive pile of tickets across the counter to the slack-jawed teen working there. 

“Give me all of those little candies, all the stickers, all the rings, as many of the little prizes as you can,” Adam said confidently. Not knowing what else to do, the girl behind the counter just handed him the entire baskets of little toys and sweets. Then without warning, Adam climbed up on the counter. “HEY!” He called loud enough to get the attention of all the kids in the arcade. Of course, the boy also just had the sort of commanding tone that made people look, especially when it came from someone so young. “Who wants a prize?!” He said with a massive grin. He began throwing out the prizes like beads being tossed from a carnival float.

Crowley laughed as he watched a swarm of cheering children charge the counter. There was that good old human creativity he couldn’t help but love. He knew Adam would be fine, no matter what. After all, he had that fast working, adaptable brain that made humans great. It was as Azirapahale said, he was human incarnate. 


	5. The Prying Principality

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Aziraphale's turn to impart some immortal wisdom on to Adam. This reveals some feelings the ex-antichrist has been hiding about his role in saving the world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aziraphale's POV
> 
> Sorry I took longer to update this chapter than before, was working on other fics and things. 
> 
> This is the second to last chapter!

The Fifth day of Adam’s stay was spent helping in the bookshop. Aziraphale had taught him how to use the till, and he seemed to enjoy the job. He took the responsibility very seriously, keeping his list of rare or otherwise sentimental books that were not to be sold right next to him and scanning it every time a costumer approached with purchases.

They took a break around lunch time and the angel and his young charge walked to a nearby sandwich shop. Crowley had told him of the progress he made with Adam and Aziraphale had decided it would be good to check in with him again to see how he was feeling now that he’d had time to calm down.

“So,” He said after they had sat down at a table, straightening himself out very properly as he began the conversation. “Your parents are coming to pick you up the day after tomorrow, can I trust when I send you home with them you’ll handle things… better?” He asked carefully.

Adam took a large and purposeful bite of his sandwich, chewing it slowly in what appeared to be an attempt to buy himself time to answer.

“Adam?” Aziraphale prompted him again, firm but not urgent with his tone.

“I just… I really don’t like change,” Adam sighed heavily after he’d swallowed his bite.

Aziraphale chuckled. “You’re talking to someone who’s been wearing the same coat for almost two centuries now,” He said with a knowing twinkle in his eyes. “Change is difficult but unfortunately it is often inevitable,”

“I know,” Adam replied with a soft nod. “Crowley told me I just have to make the best of a bad situation,”

“Are you sure it’s a bad situation?” Aziraphale asked, his head quirking to the side inquisitively.

“’Course it is,” Adam looked at the angel as though he had grown a second head. “I have to leave my friends and all the places I like,”

“Well, yes, that is quite unpleasant,” Aziraphale replied in agreement. “But have ever stopped to consider all the new places you might get to explore? Or the new interesting people you’ll meet?” He asked.

“Yeah, yeah, my mom has already tried to sell me on all that, I just don’t see how any of that stuff will be better than the life I already have,” Adam grumbled resentfully, ripping pieces of crust off his sandwich with more force than was necessary and handing them under the table where dog was hiding, eager for scraps.

“But you don’t know do you? Whether it’s better or not?” Aziraphale asked rhetorically, raising one eyebrow and smiling sagely. “You have absolutely no idea what this new town will bring, and that’s the fun of it,” He explained, leaning in conspiratorially, like he was letting Adam in on some grand secret. “I pointed out that I’m rather slow to change, yes? Surely, you’ve noticed with my clothes and my music and my old shop, I don’t keep up with the times. Probably seem like quite the old fuddy-duddy to you, hmm?” A hint of a smile twitched at the corners of Adam’s mouth and he nodded in reply. “Well compared to the rest of heaven I’m actually incredibly _hip_ _to the times_ ,” This made the boy laugh outright.

“I mean it!” Aziraphale protested, though he was laughing too, knowing the idea of him being up to date sounded ridiculous. “They may strut around in fancy modern looking clothes and use computer-like mechanisms for efficiency, but really they have no idea what’s going on,” He told him with an exaggerated look of disapproval on his face. “All they pay attention to is ancient prophecies, numbers of souls collected, and maintaining holy appearances. They don’t bother actually watching humanity grow, appreciating the things they’ve created. It’s because in heaven, everything is perfect, or it’s _supposed_ to be, so they rarely feel the need to change anything or accept anything new,” These last few words hand a tinge of forlornness to them as he spoke them. It was always difficult, remembering how hard he’d tried to convince heaven that things could change, that prophecies weren’t set in stone. There was still a small part of him that wished he would have succeeded, he had quite liked working for heaven. He wasn’t fallen, and he was thankful for that, but being quietly abandoned still had its own special sting.

“I on the other hand,” He said, returning to the conversation at hand. “Have been down here, watching the world go by. And it’s wonderful, Adam,” He said seriously. “Watching people learn, create, grow. Everyday something is different on this planet. Everyday there are new things to learn, new books to read, new thoughts to think, new people to meet. Even the seasons change, so quickly I can hardly keep up with them,” A fond, almost loving smile appeared on his face. “But I’m trying, and I’m appreciating every single second of it,”

Adam had been quiet during all of this. Aziraphale watched him closely, waiting for a reaction. He watched as the boy’s shoulders started to shake slowly. His face scrunched back as though he were holding back something. Realization flowed over the angel, Adam was holding back tears. Quite forcefully at that. He scooted his chair over so he was closer to Adam, putting a reassuring hand on his shoulder. Adam sat up, taking a deep sniff, still not letting himself cry, but when he spoke his voice was shakier than a newborn faun.

“It’s just… not fair,” His tone contained that unique mix of anger, sadness, and betrayal that only came when you learned something very disappointing about growing up. “I’m just a kid and… and I had to go through all that mess of saving the whole _damn_ world,” He put every ounce of adolescent force he could behind that one curse. “So everybody else could keep on living and having the things they like! Now _my_ world is being taken away and nobody cares! Nobody is jumping to help me! To keep things the way I like them! Everyone’s telling me I just have to put up with it!” Finally, the dampness pooling in his eyes began to overflow and he wiped the streaks of tears away aggressively. So aggressively it looked like he didn’t care about hurting himself in the process. “I don’t care if the new place is good! I don’t want to find out! And I don’t want to make the best of it if it isn’t!” His voice was starting to raise and Aziraphale shielded them from suspicion of onlookers, for the sake of Adam’s privacy. “I shouldn’t have to fight for everyone else if no one’s going to fight for me! Or… o-or even care about how I feel about it…” Adam had lost steam, the sadness winning out over the anger, he hunched in his chair.

“Oh, you poor boy,” Aziraphale said softly. He drew the mop of golden hair to his chest in a gentle, comforting hug. He didn’t know what to say. Guilt was stopping up his throat, keeping any words from coming out. Adam had never let on that the apocalypse had ever had any lasting effects on him, but now Aziraphale could see there was more emotional toll than the boy had ever let on. It was unfair, now that the angel thought about it; Adam had carried the literal weight of the world on his shoulders and no one remembered it enough to thank him, let alone return the favor in his time of need. But growing up was often unfair, for any child, world savior or no. So now Aziraphale had the weighty task of deciding whether it was better to let Adam learn that lesson now, or give him this small reprieve. Complicating matters further, there was still that fact that they were avoiding using large-scale magic around Adam so as to not attract otherworldly attention. This truly was a fine mess, the angel thought to himself as he cradled the crying boy. A fine mess indeed.


	6. The Immortals Intervene

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adam leave's London, not knowing Aziraphale and Crowley are working feverishly to try and help him out of this situation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Crowley's POV

At the end of the week, Adam’s parents came to pick him up and he left with them very reluctantly. For all their efforts, they still hadn’t really been able to get him on board with moving. Which was understandable, from what Aziraphale told him, Crowley knew the boy had good reason to feel cheated in this whole situation. The two of them waved goodbye to him from the curb as he watched Mr. Young’s car pull away with Adam in the backseat. The demon could tell that watching the melancholic face in the back window get farther and farther away broke his angel’s heart. The soft spot in his heart for the boy ached as well, but neither of them could lament for long. They had work to do, and lots of it.

***

A few days later Adam walked into his bedroom in Tadfield, set to get ready for bed, only to be faced with quite the surprise. There, next to his open window, stood his so-called “godfathers”, both wearing the same conspiratorial smirk on their faces.

“Wh… Am I in trouble?” Adam asked automatically, obviously confused by their presence.

“Oh no my dear boy,” Aziraphale reassured him as Crowley snickered at his reaction.

“We actually have some very good news for you,” The demon said, his grin widening as he rubbed his hands together, looking to Aziraphale to see if he could be the one to tell Adam why they were there. The angel nodded excitedly. Crowley turned back to Adam. “You’re staying in Tadfield,”

Adam’s mouth fell open in utter disbelief, then he abruptly looked skeptical. Crowley understood why he wouldn’t believe them right off the bat, after all they had done to try and convince him this move was a good thing.

“And we worked out the solution without any magic,” Aziraphale beamed proudly. “I thought up the plan myself! First, I located an empty swath of land outside of Tadfield and bought it. Crowley wrote up papers to make it look as though there was a wealthy estate there. Then I contacted the company hiring your father and I posed as an elderly investor who was only interested in pouring money into the company if they opened a branch near enough to my estate for me to have regular access,” He began to go more in depth, getting into very unnecessary details, so Crowley cut him off.

“Long story short, they’re moving coming to you instead of you coming to them,” He said casually as though it hadn’t taken a solid seventy-two hours of work to accomplish.

“But… but why?” Adam asked, having to sit down in order to process all the information they were throwing at him. “What about all that stuff about change being good and making the best of it?”

“You can learn about all that stuff when you go away for college,” Crowley said with a wave of his hand. He sauntered over to the chair Adam was sitting in and leaned down so he was at his eye-level. “Look, the forces of the universe don’t tend to cut people breaks. But if anyone deserves one, it’s you, Adam. So, your guardian angel and I,” He jerked his head over at Aziraphale, making the angel blush slightly. “Decided we had to step in and do something,”

“That’s right,” Now Aziraphale walked over to put a hand on Adam’s back in a very paternal manner. “You risked so much for the world, and I fear you’ll never truly get proper thanks from its inhabitants. So, as two people who are very glad the earth is still around, this is our way of showing gratitude,” He said with a warm smile as Adam looked up at him.

Suddenly the boy jumped forward and pulled them both into a hug. Crowley was still leaned over so Adam’s arm slung around his neck, almost choking him a bit. He didn’t mention it though, not wanting to ruin the tender moment. “You two are the best weird immortal uncles a kid could ever ask for!” He said, making them both laugh.

“Well we’ve got to get going before your parents notice we broke into their house to talk to their kid,” Crowley said after a moment, unable to quite wipe the goofy grin off his face as he pulled out of the hug and straightened himself out.

“They don’t know yet,” Aziraphale warned Adam. “Your father will be getting a call about it tomorrow, but we wanted to tell you ourselves. So, best to keep this between the three of us, alright?” Adam nodded, his smile so wide his face looked like it was threatening to split.

Then with a flutter of wings they disappeared out the window and were walking down the lane moments later, their mission accomplished. From the street they could still see into Adam’s bedroom window and took a moment to watch him jumping around, pumping his fists in the air victoriously.

Crowley slid his hand into Aziraphale’s and gave it a squeeze. The angel met his eye and the both shared a smile. “We just saved that little boys entire world,”

“It was the least we could do,” Aziraphale replied softly. “Just returning the favor, really,”

They nodded in agreement and started walking, taking a stroll to appreciate what they’d done, and each other’s company for a little longer before they headed back to London.

***

Epilogue

Crowley walked into his flat the next morning, a lingering feeling of contentment sticking with him from the night before. As though a great debt had been repaid. He was so content and relaxed that he almost missed the letter sitting on the floor right in front of his door, having been slipped through the letter slot. When the white envelope under his snake-skin shoe caught his eye, he was a little surprised. He rarely got physical mail. This was in part because he had frightened the mailman away from delivering any junk mail by lunging through the slot in serpent form.

He picked it up. His eyebrows raised as he saw who it was addressed to. “In the same week? Really?” He said aloud to himself.

The envelope was addressed to _Nanny Ashtoreth_ , from _Warlock Dowling_.

Apparently, a godfather’s work was never done.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAHA BET YOU DIDN'T THINK THERE'D BE A SEQUEL SET UP
> 
> Anyway, I just feel like Adam isn't the only one in need of some time with his ineffable uncles, especially since Warlock was the one they actually raised. 
> 
> There's a lot of pics I want to write but I will make time to chug away at this sequel! So look out for it! 
> 
> Hope you enjoyed!


End file.
